NGOs accuse TNI, officials in biggest timber heist ever

NGOs accuse TNI, officials in biggest timber heist ever

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The most egregious case of timber smuggling ever discovered --
valued at more than US$1 billion -- was made public on Thursday
by two non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who also accused
Indonesian military and government officials of running the
racket.

The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
and the Indonesian environmental group Telapak said the case
involved the smuggling of 300,000 cubic meters of timber per
month from Indonesia (mostly Papua province) to China.

One of the key points that the groups pointed out on Thursday,
was that the operation was allegedly supported and managed by
high-ranking Indonesian Military (TNI) officers in cahoots with
other government officials and law enforcers.

They were reportedly part of a group of international criminal
syndicates involved in the massive looting of merbau (Intsia)
wood to supply China's increasing demand in the timber processing
industry.

Merbau is one of the most valuable timber species in Southeast
Asia, but Papuan communities get approximately $10 a cubic meter
for chopping them down. They are then sold for around $270 per
cubic meter in China where it is used for furniture and flooring.

"Papua has become the main illegal logging hotspot in
Indonesia. This massive timber theft of Indonesia's last pristine
forests has got to be stopped," M. Yayat Afianto of Telapak
stated during a news conference to release the investigative
report by the two groups in Jakarta.

The report entitled "The Last Frontier" identified Sorong,
Manokwari, Fak Fak, Nabire and Serui regencies as the main
illegal logging hotspots, from which the logs are shipped to the
Chinese port of Zhangjiagang.

"The smuggling is still going on, even though Indonesia and
China have signed an agreement to stop illegal logging.
Therefore, we urge both governments to enforce the agreement
immediately," said EIA's Julian Newman.

In December 2002, Indonesia and China signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) on Forest Law Enforcement and Governance
designed to halt the purchase of illegal timber.

The report said a three-year investigation that started in
2002 revealed the involvement of several military personnel,
customs officers and forestry officials.

During the two-hour press briefing, the names of several high-
ranking military officials accused of being involved in the
racket were mentioned.

"The authorities have taken no action whatsoever against these
officials, even though we have reported them to the Ministry of
Forestry, hoping that they would be tried. One of the officials
we reported to the police still runs his logging business openly
in Papua, instead of being arrested," Arbi Valentinus of Telapak
told The Jakarta Post.

He was referring to a captain in the military police in Sorong
who was in March 2004 reported by a television station as running
an illegal logging operation and selling the wood to a Malaysian
timber company.

Meanwhile, former Sorong Police chief Faisal AN and five of
his subordinates are on trial in Jayapura, Papua, for their
alleged roles in illegal logging in the province.

The case surfaced after a Panama-flagged vessel laden with
12,000 cubic meters of illegal logs was seized by the water
police off Sorong on Jan. 15, 2002.

The report by the environmental investigators said each
component of the syndicate played a specifically defined role --
from Jakarta-based bosses securing protection for shipment,
Malaysian logging gangs, Singapore-based shippers arranging
transport for the logs and Hong Kong-based brokers selling huge
quantities of Merbau, to companies on mainland China.

"Aside from expecting the Indonesian and Chinese governments
to take action to halt the smuggling, and in light of the fact
that it involves several international syndicates, we urge that
an international response be formulated," said Sam Lawson, a
senior campaigner for EIA.

Minister of Forestry M.S. Ka'ban has said that 43 million
hectares of Indonesian forests have been damaged or destroyed
over the last several decades due to illegal logging, with the
average annual deforestation rate estimated at more than 2.8
million hectares since 1998. (006)